Back in 2004, when I was living in London, I had the pleasure of occasionally writing for Skwigly, an online magazine that seemed to position itself as a British version of Animation World Network (awn.com). I was happy to continue my association when I moved to the Atlanta area. But soon after, they seemed went out of business and their site was taken down. (I did post an article I wrote for them on this blog on Joanna Priestly here.) Then, all of sudden, I got an email from its editor, David Smith, indicating they were back!

As might be expected the site is structured as a blog and recent pieces include a review of Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s Arrietty (Kari-gurashi no Arrietty) from Studio Ghibli, an interview with Alex Williams and a review of Animated Performance, the new book by Nancy Bieman.

Needless to say, it’s good to have Skwigly back. My only complaint is there is no easy way to search the site, especially if you’re looking for my articles (, if you’re interested here are links to my interviews for them with Bill Dennis, Linda Simensky and Robert Lione).

The Japanese-language edition of  Astro Boy and Anime Come to the Americas, by Fred Ladd (with my assistance) has been published by NTT in a translation by Kumi Kaoru, the author of two books on Hayao Miyazaki.  The Japanese title is Anime ga Anime ni naru made (How the Japanese Cartoon Became “Anime”’).

Kumi-san emailed me that “Nihon Keizai Shimbun (the Wall Street Journal of Japan) published a brief notice last Sunday, which he roughly  translated (with some editing on my part) as:

Osamu Tezuka’s Tetsuwan Atom, which began in 1963, appeared in the US in the autumn of the same year as Astro Boy, and turned out to be a precedent-setting event for the international reputation of Japanese animation.  Mr. Ladd, who directed the English dubbed version, wrote this memoir with the support of Mr. Deneroff, cartoon scholar. It is full of previously unknown stories about the very early days of anime’s English adaptation, such as how the adaptation staff beat their brains to soften the “violence” in Atom so that it could meet American TV standards.

It is available from Amazon Japan here (and presumably other outlets) for ¥2,940 (about $31.50).

 Astro Boy and Anime Come to the Americas, Fred Ladd’s personal history of his involvement with producing the American versions of such early Japanese animated TV series as Astro Boy and Gigantor, has now been made available as an Amazon’s Kindle Book for only $9.99, which you can order here. (The original print edition is, of course, still available in its original softcover edition from MacFarland for $35.00.) Unfortunately, as far as I know, neither Fred Ladd or myself will be able to personally autograph your Kindle Edition, but I suppose there are other compensating virtues to getting it via Kindle.

It’s been almost 3 years since took what I thought would be a brief hiatus from my Animation Consultants International website when I took up teaching duties at the Savannah College of Art and Design. A lot has happened in the interim, most obviously the growth of the animation blogosphere, the widespread hysteria surrounding motion capture, and the comeback of 3D stereoscopic films. These and other topics that catch my fancy, including what used to be called live-action movies, will be grist for this blog; however; I will no longer provide links to stories around the world, but concentrate instead on analysis and commentary.

I will continue to maintain my list of Animation Studio Links, as there seems to be a continuing interest in it. (It was the one aspect of my site I continued to do maintenance on during my hiatus.) I will also make available past Commentaries and News on the Web.

As to my work, I continue to teach animation and cinema studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design, having shifted from the Savannah to their new Atlanta campus in June. After undertaking my current job, I gave up my consulting career and my life as a freelance writer; however, I am involved in various book projects, one of which appears close to fruition.

Due to these and other factors, I have decided to drop the name Animation Consultants International and opt instead for the more prosaic harvey @ deneroff.com. Also, I cannot vow that I will be posting material on a daily basis (as I once tried to do), but it certainly will be considerably more frequently than was the case over the past few years. In any case, it’s good to be back.